The statement by Bukit Aman Legal and Prosecution Division Principal Assistant Director Dato Razali Basri reported in the STAR yesterday that the police will use the Security Offences (Special Measures ) Act 2012 (SOSMA) during the campaign period to ensure that the 13th general election is not affected by incidents or security threats is an entirely unacceptable position.The statement by Datuk Razali as reported also made reference to using the section 124B of the Penal Code being the offence of activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy ( in the category of so-called security offences ). This sort of statement confirms the fears that were expressed by MP's during the debate on SOSMA in Parliament in late 2012 that the powers under SOSMA relating to so-called offence of activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy would be easily abused.Dato Razali's statement further demonstrates the lack of understanding in the senior ranks of the police that the Election Commission is the custodian of the election process and the primary law applicable during campaign is the Election Offences Act. Threats to use national security laws like SOSMA in the context of the campaign period will only undermine the integrity of the electoral process. The existing laws dealing with ordinary criminal offences and public order are adequate to deal with any incidents that may arise in relation to campaign workers etc. The reference to use of SOSMA during the election process is totally unwarranted.

Keadilan calls upon the police to stop making references to SOSMA in relation to the election process.

Malaysians will go to the polls on May 5

Malaysians will go to the polls on May 5 in what is predicted to be a closely fought election, with 55 years of one-party government being challenged by Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the People's Justice Party and head of the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

Campaigning for the ideals of empowerment, justice and equity, the coalition is calling for an end to corruption and the reform of civil and democratic institutions. Anwar Ibrahim emphasises social justice, poverty eradication, education and civil society and he has been a powerful symbol of integrity in the shadowy world of Malaysian politics for many years.

He was a former deputy prime minister in Malaysia, holding various cabinet positions in agriculture, commerce, education and finance before becoming right hand man to former prime minister Mahathir.

While finance minister he was recognised as an "Asian tiger" and Newsweek named him its 1998 "Asian of the Year" for his role in rescuing Malaysia from the Asian financial crisis.

When establishing a reform movement, he courageously accused the prime minister of corruption, which led to his temporary downfall and six years in jail on trumped-up charges.

Emerging from the politically motivated accusations in 2004, he gained a notable result in the 2008 elections, winning one-third of the seats and five states from the incumbent National Front party.

Attempts to smear his reputation again failed when accusations were finally dismissed last year for lack of evidence. He is regarded as Malaysia's best hope against an autocratic and corrupt government which many think have ruled Malaysia for far too long.

The incumbents are using the usual tactics such as tampering with the electoral rolls and using huge amounts of public money to campaign against the opposition.

At speeches and rallies Anwar Ibrahim is compelling, charismatic and persuasive as he remains steadfast in his trust in true democracy and his faith in the wisdom of the people.

His followers are joining him in their hundreds of thousands in the call for electoral reform and an end to corruption scandals, crime and police brutality. Anwar knows well that he is up against a well-oiled propaganda machine that calls itself "Moderate Malaysia" and controls the media's often empty vote-getting slogans which distort the meaning of freedom, democracy and human rights.

His own coalition is a triumph of bringing to consensus the disparate elements of his People's Justice Party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party and the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action party. He has managed to bring them together into a broader liberal community through "active and vibrant intellectual discourse," acknowledging extremists with respect and tolerance.

The objective is a multi-party democracy where leading parties will change every few years as a way of being accountable to the people, putting an end to the single party domination of Malaysian politics.

The twin issues of corruption and living costs are of major concern to voters. Anwar's People's Alliance has established a good track record in the states it currently governs, and he told reporters on April 4 that he was "cautiously optimistic" about winning a majority in parliament. The people of Malaysia have become more aware of national issues and their right to criticise, question and condemn their current rulers whose excesses and extravagances have no limits.

In the culture of patronage and political largesse, huge sums of public money have been squandered in failed economic ventures and speculative projects, which certainly have not benefitted Malaysians.

Education, housing and health services are all in need of upgrading and investment and the country suffers from stagnant wages and a huge and growing national debt, as the government borrows to maintain handouts to retain political power.

It is a tragic state for a Muslim country to be in, as it has moved far from the tenets of Islam which include moderation, piety, justice and fairness to all. The Pakatan Rakyat offers the best hope of reform and change and the fact that the coalition contains diverse interests and competing ideologies can be seen as one of its strengths. By bringing together different ethnic and religious groups the PR coalition is more representative of a truly democratic Malaysia, more concerned for the good of the country and all its people than the nationalist Malay group represented by the ruling Barisan Nasional.

If the nation is to eradicate poverty which is one of the often repeated campaign promises of the current government, then mismanagement, corruption and abuse of power will have to be replaced with a moral government with the interests of the people at heart.

Anwar Ibrahim has an opportunity on May 5 to save his country from the one-party rule that threatens to hold back the country with stagnating ideas and economics; hopefully the people of Malaysia will recognise the moment for its historical significance and give Anwar Ibrahim the chance to lead his country to a renaissance of integrity, prosperity and true democracy.

Dr Azeem Ibrahim is a Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

If Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wins the general election on May 5, it will be because a majority of Malaysians decided that it wants a new leadership at the helm of our country.

But Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today that PR's cry for change in Election 2013 is a call for chaos, division and national bankruptcy.

How's that again?

If a majority of us — and that remains an if — want PR to run the country for the next five years, why exactly would there be chaos?

I would think the only chaos would be among Barisan Nasional (BN) parties and their leaders.

Surely, Muhyiddin is not suggesting that BN leaders, their parties and the voters who support them would be sore losers and create chaos?

Or is there an implied threat there? I would like to have more confidence in my fellow Malaysians.

After all, a significant number of Malaysians — millions, in fact — have consistently voted for opposition parties since independence.

And the result has more often than not been peace. Except in 1969 when BN's predecessor the Alliance scraped through but lost the popular vote.

So, there has always been division in our country too, just like there is in any country, organisation or even family. We have different opinions but we are still Malaysians.

As for bankruptcy, I am assuming Muhyiddin is referring to Pakatan's many promises in its election manifesto.

I do not agree with some of the proposals in Pakatan's manifesto but it is rich of him to suggest the opposition, if given a chance to rule, would bankrupt the country.

BN's policies in facing this election are equally if not more populist, what with handouts being announced every week.

I can only come to one conclusion — Muhyiddin's remarks are nothing more than a self-serving bid to stay in power, and not an attempt to offer Malaysians a chance to make an informed choice between BN and Pakatan.

It was past midnight and the ceramah had long since ended, but a small crowd lingered at the playground area of Blok 100 of the PPR Sri Pantai people’s housing project, shaking hands and taking photographs with Lembah Pantai incumbent Nurul Izzah Anwar .

Appearing tired, Nurul Izzah nevertheless obliged, chatted with them and handed out her name card. She then made her way to an opposite block to visit one of her constituents, 82-year-old Ahim Mat who is bedridden after having suffered a stroke recently.

Ahim’s wife Rahimah Bakar, 76, had earlier attended the ceramah and had invited Nurul to her home. Despite the late hour, Ahim was delighted to see Nurul Izzah.

Nurul Izzah then made her way to the home of Siti Aminah who suffers from high blood pressure.

“Kak Siti always helps and takes some of the residents who are ill to the hospital,” said Nurul Izzah.

Despite being indisposed, Siti’s face lit up when she saw Nurul Izzah and chatted amiably with her.

At about 12.45am, Nurul Izzah said good night and took her leave.

“I do my best and try to visit. I’m tired of people accusing me of not visiting my constituents,” she said as she made her way out.

She enjoys celebrity-like status in her constituency and before she started her ceramah earlier that night, she went around shaking hands with everyone present and appeared to recognise most of them.

A few minutes later, in her Penang accent, she began her 30-minute speech, touching on cronyism, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, mariyathei (respect in Tamil), the water problem in Selangor and the “flavour of the week”, Shah Alam parliamentary candidate Datuk Zulkifli Noordin, which got the crowd excited.

“He (Zulkifli) insulted people but he is protected. In my view, anyone who disrespects other religions must be brought to court, regardless if he is a civilian or a minister. Justice must be for all,” she said to loud cheers from the crowd.

A resident, who has been living in Sri Pantai for the past 10 years, said she understood Nurul Izzah’s plight.

“Nurul Izzah has done her level best to try to solve our problems,” said the 53-year-old who declined to be named.

Another local, who declined to be named, said he attended the ceramah because he wanted to get the “feel” of the environment. Working in the oil-and-gas industry, the 44-year-old moved out two years ago having earlier resided in Lembah Pantai for 12 years.

“My voting constituency is still here. I feel since she came, there is a lot of political awareness among the locals but she has an uphill battle. “Still, I believe the locals are wise enough to judge,” he said.

In 2008, Nurul Izzah had wrested the Lembah Pantai seat by a margin of 2,895 votes (7%).

The Lembah Pantai electorate has apparently increased to around 71,000 voters, compared to 56,650 in 2008. Indicating a 25% increase in registered voters in the four years since 2008, sharply contrasting the 9% growth of the electorate across the previous 13 years between 1995 to 2008.

Nurul Izzah considers the Lembah Pantai constituency as a “microcosm of Malaysia”. She has “a trusted core team” of 50 people plus a wider base of division heads and volunteers.

Besides groundwork, the team is also meticulously analysing the historical voter-turnout trends by wards/sectors within the constituency to address the new challenge.

Rumours have been circulating that a ‘cleaning up drive’ is underway in the top echelons of power, following a growing belief that Pakatan Rakyat will be forming the Federal government after this weekend’s polls.

It has been reported earlier that the National Council of Professors Malaysia (MPN), which assumes an advisory role on Federal government policies, will convene an extraordinary meeting in Putrajaya to discuss the latest developments.

For several days now, analysts and pollsters have been reporting a growing trend of voters preparing to ditch Barisan Nasional. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Putrajaya itself, where ‘underdog’ PAS candidate Husam Musa’s programmes have been attracting mammoth crowds, forcing UMNO to bring its strongman Dr Mahathir Mohamad into direct campaigning. Days before nomination day, BN’s Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had boasted that Husam would lose by two-thirds majority.

And a survey released by University of Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections pointing towards a PR victory has roused the ire of BN leaders including its chairman Najib Razak.

Seasoned political analyst Ahmad Lutfi Othman, who is also chief editor of PAS organ Harakah, has recently a source from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, on the extraordinary meeting by MPN.

Lutfi said the meeting was being called in the wake of “worries that a BN fall from power is imminent”, he wrote in the BM edition of the Harakahdaily news portal.

“Apparently there were many such meetings taking place in Putrajaya to discuss the subject,” he added.

Cleaning up?

Meantime, a text message is making rounds claiming that the Prime Minister’s Office is undergoing a ‘spring cleaning’ exercise in anticipation of a PR victory.

Harakahdaily has not been able to verify the claim, but judging from recent experience, such rumours cannot be easily dismissed as hearsay.

Similar ‘spring cleaning’ by outgoing BN state governments had been reported in 2008 hours before election results confirming PR’s victory in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah, where it was claimed that documents on shady land deals had been destroyed before the new PR government was sworn-in.